138 Tatler September 2019 tatler.comA swathe of glamorous
openings is putting fresh
polish on the French capital
By DELILAH KHOMO
Photograph by TIM WALKERAndré Balazs’ Chiltern Firehouse,
alongside the slick Bulgari Hotel
and Spa (bulgarihotels.com), due to
open in early 2020. But what’s really
drawing a crowd is the city’s ever-
expanding restaurant and food
scene, which bursts with culinary
delights. At its heart is a fresh take
on French cuisine that’s served up in
a decidedly laissez faire manner,against a backdrop of seductive,
design-focussed settings.
Take the recent Parisian brasserie
renaissance led by John Whelan, the
British interior designer and taste-
maker, whose reimagined Brasserie
Julien (gsl.works) on Rue Faubourg
Saint-Denis has been a stellar hit
ever since it opened last year. His
latest project, Terminus Nord, is aprospect, with its mix of art deco
objets and mid-century masterpieces,
along with a vast rooftop terrace,
which has quickly become the place
for a sundowner or dinner.
That’s just for starters. Paris is
abuzz about the smart new openings
scheduled for next year: notably, the
Gallic outposts of enduring London
hotspots such as Soho House andParisianLiasonPARIS IS HAVING A MOMENT.
Despite recent troubles civils, an
unmistakable new wave of excitement
is rising as the city emerges renewed.
Across the worlds of arts, architecture
and design, fashion, restaurants and
hotels, Paris is brimming with renewed
creativity and impeccable glamour.
Take JK Place Rive Gauche,
(jkplace.paris) which is bringing a
shot of high-voltage elegance to the
bohemian-bourgeois area of Saint-
Germain-des-Prés. Each of its 30
rooms is filled with onyx sculptures,
tribal masks from Les Puces de Saint-
Ouen and a covetable collection of
Assouline books. There is even
a subterranean marble-lined pool
and a Sisley spa, a courtyard garden
strung with fairy lights, and its very
own Casa Tua restaurant.
For those in search of a traditional
dose of the old world in the hôtel
particulier style of slated domes,
floor-to-ceiling windows, cobbled
courtyards and the grandest wrought-
iron statement entrances, the Hôtel
Alfred Sommier (alfredsommier.com)
is the very latest independent ‘couture’
hotel; this meticulously restored
19th-century mansion in the 8th ar-
rondissement was opened by
LVMH’s former Financial Director,
Richard de Warren, this year. It is
utterly charming, with one of the
loveliest garden terraces in the city- and privileged access to the de
Warren dynasty’s country estate,
Château de la Vicomté.
For design aficionados, the newly
opened Philippe Starck hotel Brach
(brachparis.com), is surely an alluring
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